The Box Job
by lightblue-Nymphadora
Summary: 100 Days of AUs. Agents Dave and Blaine are working a safe-cracking case. Santana/Dani; Faberry; Blaineofsky (sort of). One-shot


Special Agent David Ian Karofsky stomped into the office, one of the other Agents following with a copy of that morning's newspaper.

"You see it?" Agent Jones asked, sipping her coffee.

"Yeah, we saw it," Dave said. "Blaine spit his tea all over my windshield."

Special Agent in Charge Will Schuester appeared in the opposite doorway. "Conference room in five minutes," he announced.

_At least he had the decency to bring breakfast, _Dave thought, as they piled into the room. He grabbed a couple of the small breakfast burritos and stared up at their board.

It was separated into eight squares. One square each for the criminals, and one each for their crimes. Schuester was tacking the latest news clipping to the eighth square, as Mercedes passed the files around.

"Let's do this by numbers," Schue said. "We're going to go through everything we know about these guys -"

"Girls," Mercedes, Mike, and Blaine corrected.

"Girls," Schue agreed. "And try to get to them before they crack another safe open. Mercedes, give us the rundown on them."

"Danielle LaCroix," Mercedes said as everyone turned to the first page of their file. "The youngest of the four at age 27. Her criminal record is short, before this started at least. She was arrested at age 20 for stealing three sculptures from a local art gallery. She served six months down in Louisiana, and hadn't been anywhere on the radar since. Second is Santana Lopez, age 29. Clean record up until now. Rachel Berry, also age 29. Got in trouble as a kid for some petty vandalism, and had a pretty serious screw up right out of college for releasing some test animals from a facility. Those charges were dropped for reasons I have yet to understand. And last but not least, we have Quinn Fabray, age 30. Some petty thefts during college, a breaking and entering case that got dropped, and found not guilty on a suspicious arson case from about five years back."

"Right. I want to hit the latest site as a group, and then break off to the other sites. Dave, you're in charge of going through the previous case files to find patterns. I know all of us did that already," Schue said, seeing the group about to protest. "But Dave speed reads, and we need you as a quick reference buddy."

* * *

Quinn ran a hand through her hair and yawned. She smiled down at Rachel, who was still fast asleep, and slipped out of bed. She wandered through the quiet halls of their modest suburban home until she found Santana in the kitchen.

"Morning," Santana chirped, passing over a plate of toast and eggs.

"Someone's in a good mood," Quinn said. She reached for the salt and got her hand slapped away. "Hey!"

"Your blood pressure is going to be sky high, oldie," Santana admonished.

"Can I at least have a sausage before Rachel wakes up?" Quinn whined. "And where's your wife?"

"In the office, morning painting." Santana speared one link from the sizzling pan and dropped it onto her best friend's plate. "We made the paper. I'm still annoyed that they know it's us."

"By the way, how'd it go with the little snitch?"

"The report from Matt was that the little shit was crying five minutes in. Of course the first time we need outside help, the help flips."

"Won't happen again. Don't worry." She glanced over the article, smirking at how many details the media had completely wrong. She wasn't bothered - that just made their lives easier. "It's a nice day out - good thing since we have to travel."

"I think we all need to dye our hair first," Santana said, flipping her blonde hair off her shoulders. "And go through the I.D.s to see who we're going to be for a while."

"Sure."

"Mommy! Auntie Q!" a tiny voice squeaked.

Santana scooped up her daughter and sat her at the table. "Morning, Addie. What would you like for breakfast?"

* * *

The plane ride to Denver was smooth and peaceful. Just as well, since he tended to get airsick on even the calmest rides. He had the file from the first case in front of him, but he wasn't reading.

"Hey," Sam said, squeezing his shoulder. "We've got time. Just read them when we get there."

Dave gave him a curt nod and concentrated on not being sick.

They landed three hours later and went straight to Denver's main police station. It was a flurry of activity while they got settled in, but finally they were ready to go. Schue and the others went off to the scenes of the crimes, but Dave stayed back with the reports. The first theft had been in California, over two years ago. He wondered, as he looked through the details of the case, what had really happened that night. And what had prompted them to start this spree in the first place.

* * *

"_That's it! The final box! Mwahahaha!" Quinn cackled. _

_Their five year old son, Kellan, looked up at her like she was crazy. "Mom, you'll wake Addie."_

"_Of course, love," Quinn said. "I'll keep my victorious laughter to a low."_

_Santana smiled at her over the kitchen counter. "Q…."_

"_Santana, if you're about to thank me again for letting you and Dani move in -"_

"_It's a big deal, Q."_

"_I know," Quinn said softly. "But we all need to save money now, and everyone's cool with it. Kellan's been confusing the hell out of all his classmates and teachers telling them about his new little sister who just moved in."_

_Santana laughed. "What are we going to do, Q? I mean, yeah only one house to pay for is great. But we've got hospital bills, and two kids, and…."_

"_Did you think about what I asked?"_

_Santana bit her lip. "It's...it's a big risk, Q. If we were to get caught…."_

"_We'd have to be careful, but we could do it. We need to get back to Matt by next week."_

_Down the hall, they could hear Addie crying and Rachel and Dani trying to hush her. _

_Santana nodded. "Okay."_

* * *

Dave looked at the pictures of the safe. The couple were incredibly rich - the heirs to some logging company or something - and the safe had been one of the more expensive ones. It had been cracked, emptied, and closed within the span of twenty minutes without triggering any alarms. No fingerprints. He sighed, remembering something else that he'd found odd at the time. There were a string of unsolved thefts right up until the robbery. In each one, a wallet or purse would be reported missing, only to be returned to the owner's house very next day. Nothing would be taken. Of course, this was only a weird occurrence until the second robbery. For three days before, the same string of remorseful thefts took place. Sixteen different people had their wallets stolen, but all were returned. And then, the second robbery happened.

* * *

_Dani stood completely still, gun at the ready, and staring down the long hall. Not for the first time, she wondered if God had created sarcasm just because He knew humans would need a way to vent when He screwed with them. Here she was, holding a gun, in some rich bastard's house in the dead of night, while her wife and life partners cracked the safe in the office. In the midst of all that, all she wanted to know was why the hell people put their safes in their bedrooms or offices. That was the first place anyone would look! Why not have a safe behind the panel of the medicine cabinet? Or behind the peanut butter in the pantry?_

_There was a buzz in her pocket, and she backed toward the stairs. The family cat stared at her, mworing from its perch on the bannister. She ignored it, and went down the steps as silently as she could. _

_The other three were finished, and the group was back in the car in no time. Once they were well down the street, Dani turned around to Quinn and Rachel. Rachel had her laptop out, getting the house's security back online, and Quinn was looking through their loot._

"_What'd you get?"_

"_Paperwork mostly, but important stuff. Got a few things we can liquidate, and for some damn reason, homegirl left actual money in the safe," Quinn listed. _

"_How much?" Santana asked, not taking her eyes off the road. "I didn't get to count."_

"_Looks like a few...um...more than a few thousand."_

"_Damn," Dani said. _

"_They're probably those paranoid old folks who think the Democrats are going to come after their guns and money," Santana snorted. "Gotta keep a stash handy."_

"_We need to wait a while before we do this again. We already paid off all the hospital bills, and the kids' college funds are set up. We're good for a while," Quinn said. _

"_Well hopefully I find another job before we need to," Santana grumbled. _

"_It'll be okay," Rachel said, squeezing her shoulder._

* * *

Blaine kicked at a rock as they stood in front of the third house. They'd had a look round (the family had been more than willing) and Schue was now interviewing the parents while Sam talked to the kids. Tina and Mike were still at the second house.

"I think they enjoy it," Mercedes said, sipping her coffee.

"What makes you say that?" Blaine asked. "And I thought you'd kicked your caffeine habit."

"Toppled off the wagon during the Peterson case. And I think they like it, because this one's different."

"Walk me through it?" Blaine asked. He was still young, the newest member of the team, and he didn't always see the same things they did. He was sharp, but still had a lot to learn. He tried to do most of his learning from Mercedes, because she didn't beat around the bush or taunt him when he didn't know something.

"Come on inside. We'll start there."

They entered the immaculate, enormous house and Mercedes led the way to the living room. Mercedes stood in the center and faced Blaine. "Okay," she said. "Here's what we know. One - they're smart. They're able to disable all alarms without detection, get in and out without being seen, and they know how to create a distraction for the police so whatever they're doing to prep for these crimes, goes unnoticed. So there's no reason for a few of the things we know about this crime. First one is here. What happened here?" she prompted.

Blaine looked around and tried to remember the details of House Three, as this was called. "They...they stopped here? No, they started here," he corrected himself. "Normally, point of entry is a back or side door. They waltzed in through the living room door this time."

"Yes. So assuming they know the layout of the house, which we know they do since our informant at the retail company helped out -"

"How is he?" Blaine asked in a low voice.

Mercedes shrugged. "He'll be out of the hospital in a few days. Anyway - they got help by getting blueprints this time, so they knew that the master bedroom was just here. They're getting cocky, don't you think? The office and the safe are upstairs. If they'd come in through the kitchen door, they'd be right at the stairs. Beeline up, beeline down."

"Okay, but what if something made them switch doors?" Blaine suggested. "Like...what if one of the kids was in the kitchen."

"They were both fast asleep," Sam said, coming in. "And anyway, if they saw someone awake, they would've given it up, right?"

"So we've got arrogance now…" Blaine said slowly. "That could imply escalation, I guess. But it doesn't prove they're enjoying this."

"No, but what else is odd about this one?" Mercedes asked. "There was one specific thing that was different about this case."

Blaine stood with his eyes closed for a second. "A signature. The other two, nothing was left behind. This one, we found the glass beads."

"They're starting to see this as their work - claiming ownership."

Blaine bit his lip. "I'm going to call Dave. I… I have a question for him."

* * *

"_Are you sure that's a good idea?" Rachel mumbled as Quinn spread the glass beads in a circle on the counter. _

"_They'll find them and think it's a copycat. Or that we're going to escalate and start doing more of these. This is our last one, though, so hopefully that'll have them focusing on this more than anything that might be useful."_

"_Which is nothing, because we haven't left anything for them to find. Nothing useful that is," Santana said, zipping up the bag. "Let's go."_

* * *

"Um...sir?"

Dave looked up to see an anxious young policeman in the doorway. He'd been riffling through the details of the fourth robbery, trying to find anything that would answer Blaine's question. It could be the key to catching them. "Yes… Banks?" he asked, spotting the officer's name tag.

"I...er...I think we have a problem."

Dave followed him out to see a frazzled-looking sargeant pacing in between the desks. "Sir? What is it?"

"We had them," he groaned. "We had them, and we let them go!"

"Wait, what?" Dave yelped.

"Legislation was passed last year, remember? All officers have to wear body cams. Take a look."

Dave stared at the screen and watched as an officer conducted a routine traffic stop. His eyes widened. "That's Quinn! He didn't know?"

"No. Seekins wasn't up on the cases when they first cropped up - he's been on medical leave. Kept up with the stories, of course, but… I mean, she just looks like any other pretty blonde."

"And he let them go with a warning," Dave said with a hollow laugh. "Plates come back yet?"

"Plates were stolen. We've sent out the plates and description to every cop in Colorado."

"All we can do for now. I need to call my boss and update him."

Five minutes later, after listening patiently to Schue's temper tantrum, Dave was back in the room with the files. He slowed down, truly reading and not just skimming. He looked at all the pictures, and dialed Blaine.

"B?"

"_Yeah, D?"_

"Uh...you were right. They had a kid with them last night."

* * *

"_No."_

"_Rachel."_

"_Absolutely not."_

"_This is the last one, I swear," Quinn said. _

"_That's what you said about the last one," Rachel argued. "And even if it is -"_

"_We need him."_

"_He's...no. We'll have to skip this one. Or pick another house. What happens if we get caught? What happens if the owner has a gun?"_

"_Kellan is safer with us. Addie has to stay, but… I just feel better not letting Matt keep both of our kids. And he's old enough to wait in the car."_

"_Matt wouldn't hurt either of them."_

"_No, he wouldn't. But if he's pissed at us, or if we get caught and he thinks we'll flip on him for leverage…. I just want one of them with us. Just in case."_

"_So we're leaving Santana and Dani's kid and taking our own. How exactly do they feel about that?"_

_Quinn was quiet for a moment. "Dani's...not happy. But Santana understands -"_

"_Of course she does. She'd follow you to hell and back."_

"_What's that supposed to mean?"_

"_It means you're best friends and neither of you is thinking clearly. Let's just wait," Rachel pleaded. _

"_We can't. We should have moved after the last one, and you know it. We need to do this now, to have time and money to move."_

_Rachel stared at her for a long time. "I can do everything from the car. I'm staying with him."_

"_Fine," Quinn agreed. "That's fine."_

* * *

Dave had watched the tape again, just to see if he could spot the kid. You couldn't, unless you already knew one was there. He was wrapped up in a blanket, sleeping on the floor of the SUV. He'd met the rest of the team at the fourth house, and stood with them as they looked at the pictures.

"It clicked when you mentioned things getting left behind," Blaine explained. "Remember we found that set of fingerprints? They didn't belong to the family or the thieves. We couldn't place them - well, what if someone else was there that night? I thought I remembered seeing the video game cartridge on the floor - it's a new one, just came out. We'd dismissed it as one of the kids', but the family had been gone on holiday at the time of the robbery and the release of the game. So why would they have that with them? If they had a kid with them."

"Why would they bring the kid?" Tina asked.

Blaine shrugged. "Babysitter got sick? But that's not the point. The point is, I called every gaming store within the area of the four robberies and guess what I found? Someone named Elaine Knotch paid for the game just three days ago over in Aurora. And bought a magazine subscription."

"Which requires an address."

Lights and sirens were agreed to be a bad idea, but they all pulled up in front of the house like a laser light show anyway. It's not like they'd have time to run, right?

"GOD DAMN IT!" Schue yelled.

Dave strode forward into the kitchen. It had been cleaned up from lunch, and a note was taped to the fridge. He couldn't help but smile as he read:

_Hello,_

_We figured you'd be coming. It's really easy to tell when the media are such good police forecasters. You don't have to worry - we're done and out of your hair. The last box job set us up nicely, and we'll leave you all in peace. Do take care._

_Q,S,R,&amp;D_

**_FIN_**


End file.
